About the Media Student’s Book

This blog is part of the material surrounding The Media Student’s Book. It is linked to the book’s official website and provides an opportunity for the authors Gill Branston and Roy Stafford to post various opinions, analysis and reference materials on a range of film and media education topics.

The Media Student’s Book (MSB) first appeared in 1996 and has been fully revised every three or four years ever since. MSB2 appeared in 1999, MSB3 in 2002 and MSB4 in 2006. The 5th edition was published at the end of May 2010.

The early editions of MSB addressed a UK-based readership of media students in both further and higher education – primarily A Level students in schools and colleges and first year undergraduates. Since 1996 there has been a big growth in the numbers of media students at all levels and MSB‘s readership has reflected this. When UK A Level qualifications were split into two one year courses, a range of new textbooks were introduced for the first (AS) level and MSB refocused on the second level (A2). MSB5 sees a further shift with more focus on undergraduate media studies. At the same time, MSB has become much more global in outlook.

We’ve always been interested in the global perspective and MSB has been translated into Italian, Spanish and Mandarin at various times. We know from reader responses that the book is used in many parts of the world and this is reflected in the sales figures. We hope to engage a global community via this blog as well as the MSB website and the blog at The Case for Global Film.